The best fortune I ever got out of a cookie was over 30 years ago, and while I didn’t keep it, I remember it.
“Today is a good day to go moose hunting with a belly dancer.”
I haven’t received any that were nearly as entertaining in the intervening decades, though some came close when we added the requisite “in bed” at the end.
My brain seems to see things a little bit differently than many people. (I’m pretty sure this was part of my demise in marketing/advertising.) Besides my own experience (which, admittedly, is tainted with self-consciousness), over time, I’ve had a small steady stream of people, usually friends, mention it.
Typically, it’s labeled unique.
Sometimes a blessing, sometimes a curse—like anything, really.
Anyway, most of the time, this isn’t on my radar at all. I go through life thinking what I’m thinking and seeing things as I see them, just like anyone else.
But sometimes, I feel unheard, or misunderstood, or dismissed. I feel significantly different.
Enter fortune cookies.
The photo is a small section of the cork board by my desk at home.
The top two fortunes (“Your observations are useful to others” and “Your candid approach is refreshing”) are helpful on days when I’m not feeling particularly useful or refreshing.
I don’t just see them and automatically change gears, but it is a reminder to step out of the present moment and find times when these things were true. Or that my observations are useful, they’re just not being used.
And the bottom one? “Your efforts will result in much profit.” Might as well go with it. Profit can mean a lot of things, and I’m happy to take tangible or intangible rewards.
So yeah. Even though fortune cookies were invented in San Francisco, they’re still sometimes fun and sometimes useful.